Healthy Kids Options When Dining Out

We don’t dine out often, but when we do, I am always looking for healthy menu choices for my girls.  I was happy to hear about a program called Kids LiveWell.  I was actually supposed to attend a Kids LiveWell event this past Monday, but my daughter was having her Upper Endoscopy that day, and I was unable to attend.  I was really bummed out, because this sounds like such great program, and I was looking forward to learning more about it.

So many families avoid dining out, because the menu options are not healthy options.  Well, restaurants have heard our plea’s for healthier menu options for kids, and healthy menu options are increasingly becoming the focus of the National Restaurant Association (NRA).  In July 2011, the NRA created the Kids LiveWell program to help restaurants highlight healthy menu choices.  The NRA launched the award-winning Kids LiveWell program to make a healthful choice the easy choice when eating out with your family. It takes the guesswork out of identifying healthy meals for your children to eat.  The NRA developed this program in collaboration with Healthy Dining, who is a team of registered dietitians.  They work with restaurants to identify and validate the qualifying menu choices.

We typically tend to always go to the same restaurants because we know they have safe and healthy options for Bean.  One of her favorites is a local buffet restaurant, that offers a LOT of fruit & vegetable choices.  We know fruits & vegies are peanut free, and are a healthy choice, plus she loves them.  All restaurants who participate in the Kids LiveWell program have to agree to offer & promote a selection of healthy menu items.  I looked online, and was surprised to find several restaurants in our area that participate in the Kids LiveWell program and offer healthy menu choices.  You can find ones near you by clicking here.  There is also a Kids LiveWell app for Android and Iphones.  To learn more about the program, you can visit their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter.

This sounds like a great trend, and I hope more restaurants decide to participate.  The eating habits we learn as children tend to follow us through the rest of our lives.  Starting our children off right, and incorporating lots of fresh fruits & vegetables, will teach them how they should eat as adults and teens.  With so many children being overweight and obese, making the healthy option the “good” option to them, and pushing it in restaurants is a great idea!  Kids love going out to eat, and this allows them to still go out, and eat healthy!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of the National Restaurant Association. If I would have attended the live event, I would have received a gift bag and promotional items to thank me for taking the time to participate.  However, since I did not participate, I did not receive any promotional items or gift bag.  :0(